RUMOR: Apple To Announce Facebook/iOS Integration At WWDC

As we get closer to the Apple World Wide Developers Conference, there are several rumors floating around about what will be announced. iOS 6 is expected to have revamped Maps, Photo, and Camera apps. MG Siegler of TechCrunch believes that Apple will announce Facebook integration into iOS 6. On the stage at the All Things Digital conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Apple’s lack of Facebook integration, but he insisted “stay tuned.”
On stage, Cook said that “Facebook is a great company” and their “relationship is solid.” Last week Apple heavily promoted the new Facebook Camera app on the Apple App Store. Facebook was built into an unreleased version of iOS 4 a couple of years ago, but that did not end up going through. Twitter was selected as the main third-party authentication and sharing service in iOS 5. Twitter will still be heavily integrated into iOS 6 and they will be at WWDC to discuss about their continued partnership including their integration into OS X Mountain Lion.

A partnership with Apple would be really important for Facebook. Up until now, Facebook relied on a Single Sign on technique for iOS where you had to click a connect button in an app and then authorize permissions through the app. Some of the other apps still use the old HTML pop-up for Facebook authentication. Facebook integration is not expected to be a part of OS X Mountain Lion because Apple likely wants to take their relationship slow. One step at a time, first things first, get them on iOS.